A/N- For Patric without a 'k'.

Small Packages

Chapter 1

Emily stared at the screen of her laptop. Good, they would be here any minute now. She drew in a deep breath, immediately sending spasms through her chest. She clutched at the desk with her hands as she steadied herself, attempting to stop the coughing fit that over took her frail form. One hand flew to her mouth, catching the blood the was forced from her lungs before it could hit the immaculate mahogany surface. She rested her head on the smooth, cool surface of the wood as she waited to regain her breath.

Idly she pushed herself up from the chair and slowly made her way into the bathroom. She weakly scrubbed the blood from her hands, watching in fascination as the pink tinged water washed down the drain. She reached for the cup next to the sink and rinsed her mouth out. The coppery taste of the blood quickly replaced by the cool neutral taste of the water.

"Mama?" A small plaintive voice came from the doorway of the bathroom. Emily swirled to see a tiny figure clutching a stuffed lion close. Megan shuffled closer, leaning against her mother's leg and twining her arms around her knees. "Are you sick again, Mama?"

Emily forced a cheerful smile. "No honey, Mama just has a touch of a cold and it made her cough a little is all. I'm fine see!" She held her arms open wide.

Megan remained pensive for a moment before her cherubic face broke into a smile. "Oh, that's okay then!"

Emily reached down and lifted her daughter into her arms. The movement winded her and she leaned back against the wall for support. "Hey, Megan. Remember what Mama told you about having to go away?"

Megan's face grew serious. "Yes." The five-year-old hugged her lion closer.

The doorbell rang at the instant. A single ring, polite, yet Emily knew exactly who it would be.

She pushed herself away from the wall and made her way slowly through the study and down the hallway. "Well, little miss… I hate to say it. But there are people at the door that I need to go away with."

She paused at the top of the stairs and set the girl back on her feet, crouching in front of her. The doorbell came once again, this time followed by an insistent knock. "This is the Preventer's 1rst unit squad. Open the door at once or we will force our way in."

Megan's eyes grew round. Emily smiled. "They won't hurt you baby. They're just coming to take Mama for a little talk. Now, remember what I told you, be a good girl for Nanny. She'll be with you for a while at least. Never forget I won't be any farther away than your thoughts. Can you remember that?"

"Yes, ma'am." The girl intoned solemnly.

"Good" Emily grinned and plucked at the tip of Megan's nose. "Now give me a hug and then go find Nanny."

She was instantly enveloped in the sturdy embrace of the last child of a long line of Hanahan's, one of the oldest and most respected family's in all the earth sphere. Emily gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Now, off you go."

The girl nodded. The door was swung inward. A group of no less than 10 men crowded into the foyer of her home. Megan looked at them uncertainly and then turned and dashed off down the hallway. Emily lowered herself onto the top step of the marble staircase. "Gentleman, I've been waiting for you."

Heero stared hard at the video feed of the woman in the interrogation room. She'd been in custody for over 24 hours and still not given any reason as to why she had allegedly hacked into the Preventer's mainframe and accessed sensitive information. After Wufei had brought her in, the 1rst unit had conducted a thorough search of the home and confiscated three different computers.

They'd found evidence of her trail she'd so carelessly left behind. Either she was incredibly stupid, or she had wanted to get caught. She raised her cuffed hands to sip at the earl grey tea that had been brought to her only minutes before. Heero narrowed his eyes. She wasn't talking to them. Perhaps he would have some kind of luck that Wufei had not.

Moments later he entered the room. Silent as ever he slid into the seat across from her. Prussian blue eyes met clear grey ones. The expression on her face was friendly, open. The sandwiches provided for her still sat on their paper plate, untouched. He pointed at it and spoke conversationally. "Don't like ham?"

She smiled benignly and took another sip of her tea, speaking the first words she'd uttered since being brought in. "I know you didn't come in here to debate my lunch meat preference Mr. Yuy."

Heero's eyes narrowed into dangerous slits. "How did you know my name?"

She chuckled slightly, then cleared her throat. "You've worked a long shift haven't you?"

Heero frowned. How did she know that? He had indeed been at work since only an hour after she'd been taken into custody.

She leaned across the table and tapped his name tag with a delicate finger. "It's that simple."

He flushed slightly. "I'm here to ask you some questions."

"I realized that. However, I'll save you the trouble, Mr. Yuy. There's only one person I'll talk to, and unless I speak with him, you'll never find out exactly what I did as well as why I did it." With those words she leaned back in her seat and slid her eyes closed, a small smile playing at her lips.

Heero lifted his chin. She was offering information freely, but only to one person? This definitely was not standard procedure that criminals usually followed. "Who?"

"Trowa Barton."

It took quite some self control not to blink in surprise.

She opened her eyes once more. "I know what your thinking. You're thinking that you'll bully me into talking like those other incompetent fools of yours couldn't. It hasn't worked up to now and it certainly won't start working simply because of you, Mr. Yuy. The sooner you send in Trowa Barton, the sooner I talk." She smiled once more.

Heero detested playing games with the bad guys. Yet it would appear that she had indeed figured out his next move. He rose silently and exited the room, immediately setting off in search of Trowa.

Trowa spoke softly into the phone. "I'm almost finished here. I should be home a little early."

"Really?" A happy voice practically purred in his ear.

"If nothing comes up. How about dinner out? It's been a while since we went out."

"Sounds good. I'll see you when you get home."

Heero appeared at his side. Trowa glanced up at him. "I have to go, Heero's here. I'll see you soon."

He hung up and swiveled his chair to face his friend fully, waiting for him to speak.

"I'm sorry to do this one the first night you're getting off early. But there's a situation involving a detainee that we need your help with."

"What's going on?" Trowa replied holding back a sigh. There went dinner out with Quatre.

Heero turned to walk away, motioning for Trowa to follow him. "We caught someone hacking into the database and traced it down. Her name is Emily Hanahan."

Trowa almost faltered in his step. Heero continued speaking, never noticing Trowa's surprise. "She said she would only talk to you. I'd like to get this over with so I can go home and go to sleep."

"What do you need from her?" Trowa stopped outside the interrogation room.

"Motive, exact details about what information she accessed and who, if anyone, she may have passed that information on too."

"Consider it done." He placed his hand on the knob and twisted, letting himself into the room.

The detainee sat alone on the opposite side of the table. She'd changed in the last years since he'd seen her. She was considerably less healthy looking, and she'd been small to begin with. Strands of riotous brown curls that had once cascaded down her back had been shorn off close to her head. Yet, her eyes still sparkled. A vivid grey, like the sea at the height of a storm.

She did not speak when she saw him and all vestiges of good humor instantly disappeared. She smiled slightly, a smile that did not reach her eyes. "Trowa, it's been a while."

Trowa did not speak but hit a switch on the wall cutting off the audio monitoring device to the room. The conversation would still be recorded, but for the moment they had some semblance of privacy. That done he took a seat across from her and folded his hands before him on top of the table.

"They said you wanted to talk to me. I'm waiting."

"You still don't waste time on trivialities, do you? That's good. You don't disappoint me." She fell silent once again.

Trowa studied her. "You don't look well." His eyes landed on the sandwich. "Still don't like ham I take it?"

"I'm not hungry."

"Emily, what did you do? You're one of the most upstanding individuals I know, how did you get yourself into this mess?"

She smiled ruefully. "Okay, I understand. I won't waste anymore of your time. Here's the information you want." Emily bit her lower lip for a moment. She held up one finger. "Motive. I wanted to see you one last time. This was the most fun way I could think of. I've never been arrested before and I at least wanted to do something I'd never done before I die. This was the simplest way I could think of. By the way, my compliments to the person who designed your security software, it's excellent, do you have any idea how long it took me to get past all the traps?"

Trowa remained silent. Emily held up a second finger. "What I accessed. Information of current missions and investigations. I altered some superficial details of nonessential files connected with your database, nothing that would compromise the integrity of the Preventers or their missions."

"Superficial? Explain." Trowa regarded her impassively.

Emily smirked slightly. "Just check the Preventers Mission statement. I… altered it a little, nothing that can't be set to rights within 10 minutes or so."

"What else?"

"I downloaded some files onto my laptop to look through at my leisure. Mostly procedure manuals. On my laptop, you'll find some notes for improvement and comments on rather inane things, such as the waste of resources… like the stupidity on the requirement for cover sheets on the TPS reports. That's all I did."

She held up a third finger. "Lastly, I passed this information on to a friend of mine who specializes in streamlining data for easier access and better usage of resources."

She lowered her hands to the table again and gave a slight nod. "That is all. You will find all the information on my activities on my hard drive in a hidden file labeled MEG."

"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?" Trowa checked his watch scrumptiously. This entire farce of an interrogation had lasted less than 10 minutes.

Emily regarded him thoughtfully. "How do you feel about children, Trowa?"

The question caught him off guard. "What does that have to do with why you are here?"

She shrugged. "Nothing, it's just a question."

Trowa raised an eyebrow. "I don't dislike them."

"Good, that's good. One more thing, what will happen to me next?"

He glanced up at the two way mirror. The words were quiet. "As we speak your computers are probably being searched. I'll pass along the information you've given me. If what you've told me is the truth, things should be fairly easy on you. If you plead no contest, you'll either get off with Probation or a light sentence in a minimum security facility. What you've just admitted to me is a felony. Tampering with Preventer files is not taken lightly, no matter if you were just playing around."

He rose from his seat. "I'll make sure you are made comfortable until your arraignment is set. You will be brought a change of clothes and allowed privacy in the shower with a guard posted outside the door. You'll be here for a few days at least. Since you cooperated with us, you should be released within 72 with the posting of a minimal bond."

He turned for the door and paused before her rapped on the door to be let out. "Emily, if you wanted to see me you could have just e-mailed me." With those words he was gone before she could say anything.

Heero sat in the observation room, straddling a chair. Trowa signaled for the others in the room to leave. Once they were gone, Trowa sank into a chair nearby.

"You turned off audio surveillance." The statement of fact was simple.

Trowa stared through the glass to where Emily was still in the room. She had risen from the chair and was standing before glass, a faint, sad smile playing at her lips. "Yes. But I left the recorder on. It's all on tape."

Heero nodded and held up a small data disk. "It's all here."

Heero's eyes were directed to the young woman once again. He frowned slightly. "Why was she so adamant about talking to you?"

Trowa remained quiet for several long moments. He lowered his gaze to the floor. "She's just someone I knew long ago. I don't really care to discuss it."

"Gotcha." Was the tired reply. Trowa knew that Heero wouldn't push the issue. "What's she doing?" The blatantly curious question was almost a whisper.

Trowa's head snapped up. Emily held something tiny in her hands. He rose from the chair and stepped closer to the window. Her eyes were on the object she held between two fingers. Heero leaned closer over the back of the chair.

Emily licked her lips slightly and closed her eyes. As she moved, he realized what the object she held was. A small capsule that was a tell-tale shade of aqua blue. He'd had one himself at one point in time, during the war, Implanted in his back molar. A chill ran down Trowa's spine as he whispered aloud. "Cyanide."

Heero was off the chair and out the door in an instant. She opened her eyes and stared at the glass, almost as though she could see through it. Trowa shook his head slightly. He touched one hand to the window. "Don't, please."

She gave a final nod and popped the capsule in her mouth biting down as the door to the interrogation room was flung open. She did not turn to the door, but placed her handcuffed hands on the glass, exactly opposite his. It was only a split second before she collapsed to the floor.

The brunette Preventer closed his eyes and turned away. He heard the shouts of the guards hovering over Heero and the fallen woman yelling for a doctor. He swallowed hard and drew in a deep breath, stepping away and out the door. As he made his way to his desk to retrieve his keys and coat he did not acknowledge anyone or anything. Go home. It means nothing.

Quatre shut the door softly behind him as he entered his and Trowa's home. He automatically hung his keys from the hook next to the back door and dropped his coat and briefcase to the floor. Quietly he made his way upstairs to the bedroom he shared with Trowa. He paused in the doorway. Trowa sat on the settee in the corner by the window, staring out into the fading evening sun. He had not even taken the time to undress from his day at work.

The blonde moved forward silently taking a seat beside his lover. It was a long moment before he spoke. "Duo called me on my cell."

Trowa gave a singular nod. "It's nothing, Quat. Don't worry about it. It was just another foolish criminal."

"Please, Trowa. Don't lie to me about this. You know I can feel your pain."

Trowa turned his head to stared at Quatre through narrowed eyes. Quatre did not flinch or lower his gaze. He knew Trowa as well as the other man knew himself, he knew when to back down and when not too, this was one of those time it was vital that he did not.

Trowa drew in an unsteady breath. "Her name is Emily Hanahan. I knew her a few years ago, not long before you and I finally got it together. We were…. close for a while. We had a disagreement and I took off. I haven't had any contact with her again until today. I'm sitting here running through our conversation in my head. I can't figure out what happened to trigger something like this. I just don't understand."

Quatre remained thoughtful. "You know I won't patronize you with platitudes that mean nothing. Just know that when you need me, I'm here."

Trowa nodded and rose from the settee. "Now that you've decided you won't let me mope anymore, why don't you go get ready."

"Ready?" Quatre repeated in confusion.

Trowa forced a hint of a smile. "We are still going out tonight, right?"

"You mean you want to?"

Trowa nodded firmly. "It was simply a bad day at work, nothing more. I want to forget it, I don't want to think about it. You're the best distraction I could have."

Quatre flushed slightly. "Okay. I'll just go take a quick shower."